Lessons in Gaming
by fleursdemoncoeur
Summary: Alfred and Gilbert teach Feliciano about video games. Implied Gerita; contains minor Prucan references. Rated T for one brief mention of an inappropriate video game theme.


**Lessons in Gaming**

_**A/N: Most people, even most of my close friends, have no idea that I'm an avid gamer. I spend hours just eating up any video game-related stuff I can get my hands on, be it YouTube videos, magazine articles, or actual games. Using this complete nerdiness of mine (which I am unapologetically proud of xD), I wrote this. Some of the references may be unfamiliar to non-gamers, but I think I described them adequately enough for people to understand (though just in case, I added in-text numbers that correspond to notes on the bottom of the story). Enjoy! :3**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the games mentioned in this story. Hetalia is also not mine, however much I wish that wasn't the case. Hetalia belongs to Himaruya Hidekaz, who is a genius :).**_

Feliciano rolled over in bed, intending to snuggle up next to Ludwig and go back to sleep. To his disappointment, however, instead of Ludwig's warm body he was met only with cold sheets. Opening his eyes, he saw that the other side of the bed was empty.

At first, he wasn't that surprised. After all, the German was a notoriously early riser who often got up hours before he did. Glancing at the bedside table, however, he noticed that his watch was gone.

Feliciano sat up. His boyfriend only wore his watch outside of the house, and if it was missing it meant that Ludwig had gone somewhere. Scratching his head, he tried to remember if he had mentioned having to go anywhere that morning.

_Oh. Right. He has that meeting with Roderich today. Something about unilateral trade agreements... whatever that means. _Sighing, he got up out of bed. He wasn't that tired, and besides, there was no real point staying in bed if Ludwig wasn't going to be there to cuddle with him. On his way out the door, he pulled on some sweatpants and a T-shirt; Feliciano didn't know why, but Ludwig always got so _embarrassed_ when he walked around the house naked, even if he wasn't home... Really, his boyfriend was a funny man.

Reaching the bottom of the stairway, he was surprised to hear yelling noises coming from Gilbert's side of the house. Feliciano rubbed his neck, curious as to what he could be doing. The albino was famous for being loud, but he was never quite so boisterous this early in the day. After all, the hangovers from his nights of wild partying with Antonio and Francis usually kept him in bed until at least noon.

Feliciano ambled his way over to the refrigerator. Getting out yesterday's _lasagna Bolognese_, he grabbed a fork and started to eat, not even bothering to sit down. On most mornings he would have just made some fresh pasta, but he had made a bit too much last night and didn't want to waste any food. Besides, how could he resist any sort of pasta, leftovers or not?

Scrapping his fork against the plate in an attempt to get every bit of remaining sauce, the sounds of excited hollering once again reached his ears. Feliciano frowned, beginning to feel a bit worried about Gilbert. What if he was making all of that noise because something was wrong?

After he put the dirty plate and fork in the sink, he decided to go check on him. As he neared the Prussian's bedroom door and the yelling got louder, he noticed that all that noise wasn't just coming from Gilbert. To his surprise, the other voice sounded suspiciously like… _Alfred?_

Feliciano's frown grew deeper. Gilbert and Matthew had been dating for a few months, but why was his _brother_ in the room?

"Veeee, Gil? Who's in there with you? Is that Alfred I hear?"

His questions were met only with more whoops and enthusiastic shouts. He knocked nervously on the door. "Is everything okay?" he said more loudly, trying to get their attention.

The two voices suddenly burst into fits of laughter, both Alfred and Gilbert sounding like it was rather hard for them to breathe.

Feliciano felt a pang of hurt flare up inside of his chest. _Are they laughing at me?_ His eyes welling up with tears, he began fiddling sadly with the drawstrings of his sweatpants. _Why are they being so mean? I thought that they liked me!_

Suddenly he heard Alfred's voice through the door. "Ahhh, dude! That was amazing! Hey, I'm going to go get some snacks, okay?"

Before Feliciano could run away or even wipe the tears from his eyes, the door swung open and he was face-to-face with Alfred. The man was wearing his usual cheerful smile and holding one of Ludwig's beers in his hand.

"Oh, hey Feli! What's up?" Alfred beamed at him before he realized that he was crying. "Whoa, you okay there?" He placed the hand not holding the beer on his shoulder, trying to comfort the smaller nation. "What's wrong, dude?"

Swiping a hand across his face, Feliciano choked out, "Y-You were ignoring me! And then when I asked if you two were okay you started laughing at me!" He looked up at Alfred, his eyes starting to turn red. "D-Do you hate me?"

Alfred's face melted. "Oh no, no, no, don't cry, Feli!" He pulled him in for a bear hug. Seeing Feliciano cry was like watching a puppy being stepped on—he just couldn't handle it. Knowing that he was unintentionally the reason for those tears, Alfred felt even worse.

Before he got a chance to comfort him any further, Gilbert walked over, drawn by the sounds of Feliciano's whimpering. "Fels? What's wrong?" When Feliciano only cried harder, he turned to the American in confusion. "What's going on?"

Feliciano spoke up before Alfred could answer. "W-Why were you laughing at me?"

Gilbert eyed Alfred with a bewildered look. "We were laughing at him?"

Feliciano sniffled, still pressed up against Alfred. "Y-You mean that you guys don't hate me?"

Alfred shook his head. "No way! Dude, how could anyone hate you?" He ruffled his hair affectionately. "You're way too freaking cute to even get mad at!"

The brunette pulled away from him to look up at the two nations hopefully. "Really?"

Gilbert chuckled. "Hell yeah, Feli-cakes!" He socked Feliciano in the shoulder playfully. "Honestly, sometimes I'm super jealous of West! You're just so damn adorable!"

Alfred elbowed him in the ribs. "Dude, I know you're just trying to make him feel better, but if you're dating my brother you better not be looking at other men."

The albino grinned sheepishly. "Ahaha... Well, you're not as cute as Mattie, but still, you're way up there!"

Wiping the remaining tears from his eyes, Feliciano tilted his head questioningly. "Then why were you laughing and yelling so much?"

The other two exchanged a smirk. "We were just having an _wicked_ video game session," declared Alfred. "We're freaking kicking ass!" He pointed towards the television in Gilbert's room, which, sure enough, was filled with brightly colored 3D character models and animated scenery. "Wanna join us?"

Feliciano frowned. "Video games? Veeee, Ludwig says that they're a waste of time."

Gilbert snorted and rolled his eyes. Trust his brother to tell Feli such god-awful _lies_! "Don't listen to him. He's a prude that doesn't know what fun is." Gesturing for Feliciano to come into the room, he added, "Why don't you come watch us? It's pretty sweet, and if you wanted to, you could play too!" He and Alfred had long ago discovered that they both had a passion for video games, and while it was nice to play one-on-one with the American, it would be fun to show Feli how to play too.

The little Italian shifted uncertainly on his feet. Ludwig had said that video games were pointless, and he never, _ever_ lied to him, but... Alfred and Gilbert had sounded as if they were having a blast. Surely video games couldn't be so bad if they made people that happy, right? "Well... if it's okay with you..."

Alfred gave him a huge grin before slapping him roughly on the back. "Of course it's okay with us! The more the merrier!" Grabbing one of Feliciano's shoulders, he steered him towards the television. "Here, go sit down on the floor with Gilbert. I'm going to go get some popcorn or something, but when I get back be prepared for an all-out video game marathon!"

XxxxX

An hour later, Alfred and Gilbert were admittedly pretty exasperated. What had been a rather fun _Grand Theft Auto_ playing session had disintegrated into one in which Feliciano hadn't stopped asking questions about the game. During every single action their character took, he would ask "Veeee, what's going on?" or "Oooh, what would happen if you went that way instead?" Gilbert was starting to see why his brother used to get so annoyed with him before they started dating.

"Ooooooh! Ooooh, oooh!" Feliciano cried, jumping off of the floor and pointing to the screen for what must have been the hundredth time. "Who's that lady over there?!"

Alfred glanced over to where he was pointing and instantly paled. "Uh, Gilbert..."

Sighing tiredly, Gilbert looked over at the screen. To his horror, the woman that the excited little nation was referring to was all too familiar: short shorts, a shirt that left nothing to the imagination, a sultry smile on her pixelated face... Feliciano had spotted his first video game prostitute. (1)

Gilbert scrambled to make an excuse. "Um, uh, that lady? Naw, sh-she's nobody important. Don't worry about her." Praying to any God that was listening, he turned to see if Feliciano had believed him.

Unfortunately, the brunette didn't seem to be all that convinced. "But look how lonely she looks! Veeee, maybe we should take her out to have some fun!"

Gilbert and Alfred both shuddered at the unintended implications of this statement. Sure, if it had been just them, they would have had no problem picking up the woman for a bit of... "fun" (however much Gilbert made Alfred promise he wouldn't tell Matthew). However, with Feliciano, such an idea was repulsive; corrupting his innocence was out of the question. _Besides, _Gilbert thought privately, _West would kill me if he ever found out._

"Uh, Feli, we can't pick her up…" Gilbert said finally.

Feliciano frowned at him. "But why not? Look at how lonely she is! We should be her friends!"

Alfred facepalmed. It looked as if they were going to have to explain it to him, however much they didn't want to. "Feli… that's a prostitute." Oh _god_, how he hoped that he didn't have to explain what _that _meant, either!

To their dismay, Feliciano actually started to cry. "Wh-What? That pretty lady is a _prostitute_?!" He wrapped his arms tightly around himself, wailing, "B-But that's so _sad! _Waaaaah!"

"I can't take this anymore!" Gilbert groaned, putting his face in his hands while Alfred moved to comfort the crying nation. He stood up, shutting the game off as he did so.

"Why don't you put something else in?" Alfred suggested, gently rubbing Feliciano's quivering shoulder. "We're still stuck on that one _Skyrim _quest."

Gilbert sighed. _Skyrim _was one of his favorite games, and exploring the game's vast open-world never failed to be fun. Still, with Feliciano hovering over them, he doubted that it would be as enjoyable as it usually was.

Deciding to try to play the game anyway, Gilbert nodded and put the new disc in the gaming console.

XxxxX

Twenty minutes later, things were turning out to be better than expected. Feliciano was _fascinated _with the game, enjoying the beautifully designed forests and the calming soundtrack. He had actually managed to stay quiet for most of the time, too overwhelmed with the game to ask that many questions. As harsh as it sounded, both Gilbert and Alfred were enjoying the relative silence (punctuated only by the occasional awed "Veeee", of course).

Currently, Alfred was the one with the controller. He narrowed his eyes, completely focused on the game. All he had to do to finish this particular quest was return to J'zargo and get his reward for testing the flame scrolls… As his character turned the corner, the "J'zargo" in question was there waiting for him. Before his character could walk the remaining distance, however, his thoughts were interrupted by an ear-splittingly loud squeal.

"OOOOOOOOOOOHH!" Feliciano leapt off of the floor and ran to the front of the television, actually pressing his face against it. "Who's the kitty-man?! (2)"

Gilbert and Alfred exchanged an amused glance. The "kitty-man" was none other than J'zargo himself. As a member of the _Khajiit _character race, J'zargo was literally a walking, talking anthropomorphic cat. In any other game, such a sight would have surprised even the other two nations… But this was _Skyrim_, after all. The game was known for its interesting characters.

"That's J'zargo," Gilbert explained. "He's a really powerful apprentice mage. According to his Wiki page, he can do a shit-ton of spells. Once we talk to him, he'll become our follower, and he can use all of his awesome skills to-"

"What a CUUUUUTE kitty!" Feliciano exclaimed. "He looks just like Pookie!"

Alfred shot Gilbert a questioning look. "Pookie's this cat that West's always trying to get him to get rid of," Gilbert told him. Turning to Feliciano, he frowned disapprovingly. "Feli, J'zargo is one of the College of Winterhold's most powerful apprentice mages. He's not cute."

Feliciano shook his head adamantly. "But he is! He is!" Turning back to the screen, he cooed, "Awwww, who's a good little kitty?! You're such a cutie!"

The other two gasped in indignation. "Feli, he is _not_ a _cutie_!" Alfred exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Gilbert cried. "He's an awesome, kickass mage that deserves some respect!"

Feliciano paid them no mind. "Don't listen to them, Pookie-man! You're sooooooooo adorable!" To the other two's horror, he began to rub his face against the screen affectionately. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty! Kitty, kitty, come here!"

Gilbert jumped in before his eyes could be scarred. "Feli, why don't we play a different game?" he practically begged. Any more of the Italian's… _cooing_, and he would never be able to look at video games the same way again.

Feliciano pouted. "But I'm having fun looking at the kitty!"

Alfred hurried to Gilbert's aid. "Uh, Feli! Why don't we play a Mario game instead? (3)"

The brunette looked confused. "Who's Mario?"

"You'll really like him, he's Italian!"

Feliciano's face lit up. "Oooh! Let's play that game instead!"

Crisis averted, Gilbert nodded shakily. "Y-Yeah, okay. Let me just put the game disc in." He shot Alfred a thankful look. _I owe you one, BIG TIME._

XxxxX

Half an hour later, Gilbert and Alfred were surprised to find that they were actually having quite a bit of fun. The brightly colored screens and the upbeat music had the both of them in pretty good moods. Feliciano, of course, was having a blast. Once he had found out that Mario was indeed Italian, he had been ecstatic. When he had excitedly asked if he could have a turn with the controller, the other two had relented, admittedly nervous about his playing ability. To their pleasant surprise, Feliciano was actually quite skilled. His fingers could move with the speed of a lightning bolt, and his reflexes were equally as impressive.

"Oooooh, who's that lady?" Feliciano asked eagerly. "What a pretty _bella_!"

For a split second, Alfred half-expected him to be referring to another prostitute. To his relief, he found that the woman in question was none other than the fabled Princess Peach.

"You think Princess Peach is hot, ehh?" he smirked. "Be careful, or I'll have to tell Ludwig."

"But she's pretty _because_ she looks just like Ludwig!"

Gilbert burst out laughing, Alfred chuckling beside him. "What?!"

Feliciano smiled from ear to ear. "Veeee, she does look just like him! She has his pretty blonde hair, and her eyes are just as big and blue as Ludwig's!"

Both Alfred and Gilbert were in stitches by this point. "Ahahahahaha!" Gilbert choked out. "That's freaking priceless!"

Feliciano smiled innocently at them, confused as to why they found it so funny. "It's true!" Turning back to the screen, he exclaimed, "C'mon, let's go get Princess Ludwig!"

The laughter of the other two could be heard even from outside the house.

XxxxX

Ludwig unlocked the door before trudging his way into the house. His meeting with Roderich hadn't gone all that well, and he was _not_ looking forward to the follow-up meeting next week.

"Feli?" he called, hanging up his coat on the coat hanger. "I'm home!"

As expected, an excited "VEEEEEEEEEEEE!" could be heard echoing throughout the house before his lover appeared. Giving Ludwig that special smile that he reserved just for him, he leapt into his arms, covering his face in happy kisses. "You're home, you're home, you're home!"

Ludwig blushed fiercely, although he couldn't hold back a small smile of his own. "Hello, liebe," he replied, giving him a gentle peck on the lips. Before he could say anything else, he heard Gilbert's voice.

"Welcome back, Princess!"

Spluttering, Ludwig untangled himself from Feliciano to see Gilbert and Alfred standing in front of them, both giving him smug grins. "Nice to see you again, Peachy," Alfred snickered.

Outraged, Ludwig put his hands on his hips. "Who gave you the right to call me such names?!"

To his shock, both of the men pointed to Feliciano. "He did."

Appalled, he turned to see his boyfriend nodding his head gleefully. "You did?"

Feliciano squealed, wrapping his arms back around Ludwig. "We were playing this Mario game or something, and there was this lady named Princess Peach that looked just like you! She had blonde hair and blue eyes almost as pretty as yours!" Not noticing the way Ludwig's blush deepened or the sounds of Gilbert and Alfred's howls of laughter, he continued on. "And before that we played this one game that had this guy that looked just like Pookie! He was such a cutie pie, Luddy! And then before _that _we played this game called _Grand Theft Auto_-"

"You showed him _Grand Theft Auto_?!" Ludwig roared, infuriated.

Gilbert rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Uhh, well…"

"It was so sad, Ludwig!" Feliciano cried. "There was a lady-"

"Gil and I are going to go pick up burgers!" Alfred interjected hastily. Pulling Gilbert to the door, he nervously saluted Ludwig. "Bye you guys!" The door slammed shut behind them before Ludwig could say anything else.

Feliciano, having forgotten what he was going to say about the woman, nuzzled his head into Ludwig's chest. "Mmmm… Luddy, I think you were wrong about video games. They're actually pretty fun!"

Ludwig sighed, pulling Feliciano closer to him. "I still think they're a waste of time…"

His boyfriend giggled, kissing his shoulder affectionately. "But I had a really good time!" Pulling away from him, he grabbed his hand before leading him into the kitchen. "Did your meeting make you hungry? Let's go make some pasta!"

Nodding tiredly, Ludwig followed him. _Well… if they make Feli this happy… maybe video games aren't all __that __bad._

_**Notes**_

_**(1)- "Grand Theft Auto" is a game in which, among other things, the players can pick up prostitutes and actually do things with them. Like Feli, I find this absolutely repulsive and frankly very sad.**_

_**(2)- "Skyrim" is an adventure game that contains many different 'races'. Aside from the usual RPG elves and humans, Khajiits are a race of cat people that literally look like human-sized, walking-on-two-legs cats.**_

_**(3)- The "Mario" series is probably one of the world's most famous video game franchises. If you aren't familiar with it, it is an extremely cute little series whose main character, Mario, is an adorable little Italian plumber that goes on many different adventures to save his love, Princess Peach.**_


End file.
